On This Day: May 9

Historical Events 📜

• 2023: The May 9 riots following the arrest of Imran Khan in Pakistan.
• 2022: Russo-Ukrainian War: United States President Joe Biden signs the 2022 Lend-Lease Act into law, a rebooted World War II-era policy expediting American equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.
• 2020: The COVID-19 recession causes the U.S. unemployment rate to hit 14.9 percent, its worst rate since the Great Depression.
• 2018: Barisan Nasional, the coalition that had governed Malaysia since the country’s independence in 1957, suffer an historic defeat in the 2018 Malaysian general election.
• 2002: The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected terrorists among them deported to several different countries.
• 2001: In Ghana, 129 football fans die in what became known as the Accra Sports Stadium disaster. The deaths are caused by a stampede (caused by the firing of tear gas by police personnel at the stadium) that followed a controversial decision by the referee.
• 1992: Armenian forces capture Shusha, marking a major turning point in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
• 1992: Westray Mine disaster kills 26 workers in Nova Scotia, Canada.
• 1988: New Parliament House, Canberra officially opens.
• 1987: LOT Flight 5055 Tadeusz Kościuszko crashes after takeoff in Warsaw, Poland, killing all 183 people on board.
• 1980: In Florida, United States, Liberian freighter MV Summit Venture collides with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, making a 430-meter (1,400 ft) section of the southbound span collapse. Thirty-five people in six cars and a Greyhound bus fall 46 metres (150 ft) into the water and die.
• 1980: In Norco, California, United States, five masked gunmen hold up a Security Pacific bank, leading to a violent shoot-out and one of the largest pursuits in California history. Two of the gunmen and one police officer are killed and thirty-three police and civilian vehicles are destroyed in the chase.
• 1979: Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian is executed by firing squad in Tehran, prompting the mass exodus of the once 100,000-strong Jewish community of Iran.
• 1974: Watergate scandal: The United States House Committee on the Judiciary opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon.
• 1969: Carlos Lamarca leads the first urban guerrilla action against the military dictatorship of Brazil in São Paulo, by robbing two banks.

Famous Births 👶

• 2000: Trey Lance, American football player
• 1996: Noah Centineo, American actor
• 1995: Tommy Edman, American baseball player
• 1995: Beth Mead, English footballer
• 1995: Shaboozey, American rapper and singer-songwriter
• 1992: Dan Burn, English footballer
• 1991: Majlinda Kelmendi, Kosovar judoka
• 1989: Ellen White, English footballer
• 1989: Daniel Rosenfeld, German musician
• 1988: J. R. Fitzpatrick, Canadian racing driver
• 1987: Kevin Gameiro, French footballer
• 1985: Jake Long, American football player
• 1984: Prince Fielder, American baseball player
• 1983: Gilles Müller, Luxembourgian tennis player
• 1980: Grant Hackett, Australian swimmer

Notable Deaths 🕊️

• 2024: Sean Burroughs, American baseball player (born 1980)
• 2024: Roger Corman, American film director, producer, and actor (born 1926)
• 2024: Rex Murphy, Canadian political commentator (born 1947)
• 2022: John Leo, American a writer and journalist (born 1935)
• 2022: Rieko Kodama, Japanese game developer (born 1963)
• 2020: Little Richard, American singer, songwriter, and pianist (born 1932)
• 2019: Freddie Starr, English comedian, impressionist, singer and actor (born 1943)
• 2018: Per Kirkeby, Danish painter, poet, film maker and sculptor (born 1938)
• 2017: Robert Miles, a Swiss-born Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ (born 1969)
• 2015: Edward W. Estlow, American football player and journalist (born 1920)
• 2015: Kenan Evren, Turkish general and politician, 7th President of Turkey (born 1917)
• 2015: Elizabeth Wilson, American actress (born 1921)
• 2014: Giacomo Bini, Italian priest and missionary (born 1938)
• 2014: Harlan Mathews, American lawyer and politician (born 1927)
• 2014: Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy, Indian politician, 12th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (born 1935)

Holidays & Observances 🎉

• Christian feast day:
  Beatus of Lungern
• Christian feast day:
  Beatus of Vendome
• Christian feast day:
  Christopher (Eastern Orthodox Church)
• Christian feast day:
  George Preca
• Christian feast day:
  Gerontius of Cervia
• Christian feast day:
  Gregory of Nazianzen (The Episcopal Church (US) and traditional Roman Catholic calendar)
• Christian feast day:
  Nicolaus Zinzendorf (Lutheran)
• Christian feast day:
  Pachomius the Great
• Christian feast day:
  Tudy of Landevennec
• Christian feast day:
  May 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Commemoration of the end of the German occupation of the Channel Islands related observances:
  Liberation Day, commemorating the end of the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II. (Guernsey and Jersey)
• Commemoration of the end of the German occupation of the Channel Islands related observances:
  National Day (Alderney)
• Europe Day, commemorating the Schuman Declaration. (European Union, Kosovo, Moldova, Ukraine)
• Victory Day observances, celebration of the Soviet Union victory over Nazi Germany (Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan)
  Victory and Peace Day, marks the capture of Shusha (1992) in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, and the end of World War II. (Armenia)
• Home Front Heroes Day in the United States (proposed; locally observed in Dallas, Texas)